Hiring

HIRING

In Hire Slow Fire Fast we learn to be selective a careful when hiring a new employee. We also learn that if things are not working out, to fire quickly. My husband is in charge of hiring and firing a team here in San Diego. He has plenty of openings and plenty of applicants, but he is very conservative in hiring and takes time to find the right people. The person must have ample qualifications on his/her resume. The person also must pass a phone pre-interview where if they are not extremely confident in their ability as a sales rep or difficult to understand, they won’t be called for a follow-up interview. Training begins immediately and new employees are mentored for each sale until they have the strategy down to a science. My husband is also very quick to fire. If the new employees don’t start off flying after training, he gives a performance review and pending the following week or two, they are usually out of a job. Following these hiring measures has enabled him to have the top growing team in the US for his company.

Jet Blue

Making Money in Jet Blue and the Advantageous Approach: JetBlue hired experienced leaders in the airline industry to create a new airline that focused on what customers really wanted: efficiency (paperless tickets and quick turnover) quality service (including more legroom and leather seats), and affordability. One thing they cut were the hot meals and for a fraction of the meal cost they instilled leather seats and TV monitors. They realized that people who flew didn’t care for airline food, but did enjoy watching TV and sitting in leather seats. To maximize profit, they focused on locations where there was a high demand for travel and reducing unimportant costs (like food no one likes).

Hiring GREAT people: Hire people with experience who share in the vision of the company. Ann Rhodes was in charge of human resources. She had worked for Southwest and knew what to look for in hiring the right people. Hiring committed people with experience and a focus on customer service added great value. The other top executives also had worked for other airlines in leadership positions (the executive VP, CFO, COO, VP of HR all had airline experience). Aside from upper management where experience was key, other hiring was focused on having the right attitude which meant many people did not have experience, but they had the right attitude. With the right people, deep funding, and experience as to what things could be improved on in the airline business, Jet Blue had a foundation for success. The focus of the company was safety, caring, integrity, fun, and passion.

I learn from Jet Blue to hire top executives that share in the vision and have experience. I learn to hire others with the right attitude. I have also learned that we can create a company by taking a current market and making changes to make it better (i.e. focusing on the non-flyer market who would rather drive or not go unless the fares were cheaper). See what is going wrong with the industry and find a way to improve it.

Michael Gerber’s E Myth

I have learned through Michael Gerber that we should follow the principles outlined in The E Myth Revisited. Develop the Entrepreneur, Manager, and Technician. Create a clear vision for the company. Develop a business model and follow a process. Work on your business to create a turn-key system. Specify job descriptions, hire the right people, and make the environment a place your employees thrive. Above all, be aware of the customer’s wants and make adjustments accordingly. As Michael Gerber has taught, let’s get started and create “a place where we can practice implementing ideas in a way that changes lives.”

Matt Stewart – Action Hero

Matt Stewart has started many businesses and corporations. He has experienced success and failure in business. The businesses that failed were the ones where his focus was on profit instead of teaching and learning. The successful businesses had a different approach. They were founded on core values and principles and focused on a mission. His original plan was to go into the legal profession and head off to law school, but this came to a halt when he lost his job. So he and some others started a painting company going again. At first he was an employee and then ended up buying half the business. This business taught him integrity and core values. At one point an employee died on the job. Matt used this very difficult experience to change the way the business was done, to change the equipment that was stocked. Sometimes entrepreneurs get overly excited about something they should never go into business over. Matt learned the hard way that even if you think you can do anything, sometimes you need to stay focused on what you know and be more careful with which businesses to pursue.  

Hiring

Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) looks for raw intelligence when hiring. Intelligent people can adapt more quickly than people who might have years of experience in the same field. Some of the best people he has hired were right out of college.

People who LOVE the product or service are the people we should hire. Also hire people better than you. Finally, hire the people that you see waiting for the interview that you instantly want to go up and meet because you are hiring someone who will be part of your business family. – Guy Kawasaki

$100 Challenge – The Perfect Cookie

This has not been an easy project. I haven’t had a car this semester and so delivering the cookies, buying ingredients, and selling has been challenging. This week I replaced some ingredients in my home so that I would be able to make more cookie orders if they come. I had my sister donate money towards two cookies that I made for a function. I made them last week, but collected the money this week. I worked so hard last week on the cookies that this week has been a breather and I focused more on getting my interview done for the class.